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Monday, January 31, 2000

A long time ago in a far away galaxy named Gazoom, there was this little, funny-looking alien named Gaz, who came down to Earth to give people deals. This little blue imp had a good friend in Toronto, who loved him so much they decided to form a company based on him and his planet. Gazoom (the company) threw a bash on Monday, January 31, in one of those trendy Chelsea loft-spaces (418 West 25th) and offered many little treats to guests: the standard t-shirt, a key ring, blue and yellow candies, Gaz stickers, vinyl lunch bags, and a mini basketball and hoop.

Another lively Gazoom character is Dee Brown, a pro-basketball player for the Toronto Raptors, but a confirmed and serious computer geek -- in the best sense of the word. Mr. Brown told me he's been a "tech-head" since he was a kid, has math and science degrees and can program in 10 languages. As one of the founders and main investors, Brown has the knowledge and passion to not only be a celebrity spokesperson but to also go out and walk-the-walk at Comdex and dot-com launch parties (two of his favorite things).

The intimate gathering was the perfect atmosphere for meeting most of the interesting guests, like Howard Morgan (Vice Chairman of idealab!), Peter Crowell (CEO of Spider Partners) and Caroline Graefe (client advocate of Spider Partners), Carla Shere (East Side Community HS), Sahle Ghebreyesus (caffeAdulis, a new trendy resto about to open) and Jim Sosnicky (The Village Voice). I spoke with Barb Anglisz (senior producer at Razorfish), photographer Connie Williams and Mark Seago (marketing manager of eWonders). Charlie Molineaux (CNN) was there entertaining friends and Tony Shuen (ITG) was talking with John Greco (Brown Raysman). Elizabeth Gaerlan told me her firm (Hunter & Assoc.) just handled the launch of Altoids new site: toohot.com. Before leaving I met Rich Smith (CEO of News USA), Rick O'Connor (Gazoom), who made sure I got a bubble pen; Bernardo Joselevich (DutyFreeGuide), Ellen Ullman (Family PC), Renny from VitaminShoppe.com and Mike Deaddler from VenMark Capital Partners.

With my Gazoom goodies, I bid my adieu and jetted off to start shooting baskets.

Friday, January 28, 2000

Down in Austin, you won't find many groundhogs – but you will find an increasing number of entrepreneurs, VC's, and support-networks – all busily at work trying to find the next big "New New" thing. January was a busy month, with the ASP 2000 conference at the Austin Convention Center, and the tres exclusive 2nd Annual 360 Summit (officially titled 360:00) – where the local tech elite, community leaders, and UT academics and administrators all rub shoulders and discuss ways to wisely plan for the consequences of Austin's apparently unstoppable growth.

Closer to earthly concerns, Harry Pape's monthly High Tech Happy Hour rocked the Copper Tank Brewery, with a crowd of over 800 people – raising over $4000 for local charities, including the Austin Free-Net (http://www.austinfree.net).Co-sponsored this month by The Knowledge Capital Group (http://www.knowledgecap.com), it seems that each month gets livelier and louder.

UpStartniks Get On Up

The next night, a relatively new organization took over the Speakeasy bar. Austin UpStarts (http://www.austinupstarts.com) is "a group of Austin Tech Folks that devote every waking moment to building and growing technology start up companies." From the size of the crowd that night, you'd think there were a thousand startups in Austin at any one moment! Fridays are the night they've staked out on the calendar, and it appears to be a serious weekly thing getting started, with live music provided by some of the most successful (and rockin') entrepreneurs in town. I ask you, where else but Austin?

Casa de Jetsons, coming soon

Over at the Austin Software Council monthly meeting, the topic was "The Wired Home – Is This Time for Real?" In light of the recent announcements and initiatives by Microsoft and Sun at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it could very well be. Is the "Holy Grail" of the Networked Home smart dishwashers and refrigerators? Or, is the real revolution going to happen in the
living room first? The panel (from places like Motorola, PSW Technologies, Concur Systems Technologies, and Weiser Systems) talked briefly and then took questions from the audience for about 45 minutes. When the audience was polled as to how many people had some kind of network in their home (wired or wireless), about 1/3 of the audience raised their hand. Of course, Austin is a wired kinda town, but --- perhaps mainstream acceptance of the wired house is closer than we think!

Adios, Amigos!

Well, it's been fun – but I have to admit that the lure of the startup (that is, starting my ~own~ company) has been like a siren song for some time now, and I've decided to -once again- dive right in. It's been a great nine months since I started writing about Austin for The Cyber Scene, and I've met some excellent people along the way. (If you know of someone who would like to cover the Austin tech scene for The CyberScene, then send Madame Pulitzer an e-mail, will you?). Otherwise, you can contact me at my new company - LifeSet.com
(wkreth@lifeset.com). And, if you're coming down to the SXSW Interactive Festival in March (http://www.sxsw.com) - I'll be speaking on some panels, so do say hello!

Well, that's all from Austin - where both the people and the weather are always warm, sometimes hot, but never cold!

What do you call an email system where the sender and the vendor get cuts? A pretty good deal! Based on the premise of word-of-mouth marketing, FaveMail, an Expression Engines company, helps users customize their emails with a banner to a favorite site, charity or business. Their banner goes in the email, and if the recipient clicks through and buys something, the sender and FaveMail get a percentage of the sale.

The concept has gotten the attention of a few significant investors. Hani Elnaggar (VP People) told me that the company just closed its second round of financing led by Flatiron Partners. They're also excited about the 17,000 square feet of office space they've obtained in midtown. Officially launching on January 31, they held a little "thank you" for all their investors and business and strategic partners (160 of them) in their not-yet-renovated space on Park Avenue on Friday, January 28th. Catered by Michael's restaurant, the party gave employees, who usually are working until 1:00 or 2:00 or even 6:00 a.m., a brief respite and some Moroccan cuisine.

Not just satisfied with the consumer market, FaveMail is going after corporate clients as well, and offering companies the ability to put their targeted messages in the bottom of all emails sent through servers. They're hiring, as is everyone, so check out their Sponsored IPO-row for companies heading towards IPOs during the WorkWorld job fest.

The dot.coms just got another convert. Kevin Cook, senior editor of Sports Illustrated, has put himself squarely in the Internet’s corner by announcing that he will leave the magazine to devote more time to “The Sky Box,” his popular online talk show. The program can be heard on eYada.com, the Web’s first all-star, all-talk radio network.

You can hear Cook’s unique perspective on basketball, wrestling, golf and more. He has recently hosted Detroit Pistons star Grant Hill, NFL great Joe Montana and baseball's controversial Pete Rose. Catch him live every weekday from 10am-noon EST.

Danny Meyer is doing lunch – and maybe dinner -- online. The award-winning restaurateur has joined OpenTable.com’s (www.opentable.com) board of directors. The leading provider of online restaurant reservations and Internet-connected restaurant management tools will undoubtedly profit from Mr. Meyer’s years of experience as an entrepreneur and restaurant operator. He already has big plans, like rolling out OpenTable.com’s Electronic Reservation Book of real-time, online reservations, to all his New York restaurants.

Respond2 Announces New Hires

Several lucky individuals have found their way to Respond2 (R2), a direct Internet and television marketing “anti-agency” that provides strategic consulting, creative development, television and web production services, campaign management, and accountable advertising to such clients as Carnival Cruise Lines, The Vacation Store, Icon Health & Fitness, Reebok, NordicTrack, Liquid Metal Golf Company and Superclubs.

Here are the new hires:

Jill Watkins has been appointed vice president of client services.Seth Garon has been named broadcast producer.He will oversee production of direct response television spots and infomercials. Wendy Socha has joined R2 as operations manager.She will direct, maintain and enhance affinity-linking campaigns as well as manage internal operational duties.She joins R2 from InXsys Broadcast Networks. Ben Smith has been named interactive designer.He will design, develop and maintain web sites, CD-ROMs and other electronic media products. David Mayne has been named writer/director.He was formerly a writer and director for his own company Very Sirius Productions. Anita Garlock joins Respond2 as marketing manager. Hilary Reinmuth, previously with A-Fem Medical Corporation, joins R2 as assistant account executive working closely with Tim O’Leary and Jill Watkins on client projects. Ben Smith is art director/IT development. Julie Garel has been appointed vice president of account planning.

Vernon Steward is back!
Vernon Steward is back in New York and has taken on the job of I am Director, Business Development at smartRay Network. Vernon, always a popular guy also worked at Think New Ideas.

Looking for your big break as a musician? Gigmania, the dynamic source for live music listings on the Internet, can take care of that with its "Plug-In, Play Out and Get Paid" competition. First prize is am eight-city tour support package worth $39,471. And you don’t have to be a professional artist to win. Just upload at least one MP3, preferably a live track, to the Gigmania site (www.gigmania.com) between now and March 31. Then include all your info, including tour dates, bio and photos. You’ll find out if you’re a winner on April 14.

LodgeNet and Wayport to Improve Hotel Stays

Traveling is about to get better. LodgeNet Entertainment Corporation and Wayport, Inc. today are teaming up to bundle their respective television and connectivity services to provide travelers with Internet services in the United States and Canada. The PC connectivity service will be called OnLine by LodgeNet(SM), powered by Wayport. The two companies will jointly market the services to the hospitality industry. LodgeNet will take care of the sales, installation and maintenance of Internet-enhanced television service. Wayport will take care of sales and marketing efforts.

Razorfish Acquires Qb International Holding AB

Razorfish, Inc. (NASDAQ: RAZF), is heading to Sweden. With the $20.1 million acquisition of Qb International Holding AB, a Swedish IT/Strategic consulting company, Razorfish will leverage its digital solutions to help Swedish companies invent and reinvent themselves. And on top of that, Razorfish will inherit 40 Qb employees with strong skills in management consulting and systems development, a small, but important, addition to its 1,300-member staff.

Comedy Central and LOADtv Team up Against Cancer

Can’t get out to the comedy club? Never fear, Comedy Centra.com will come to you. LOADtv (www.loadtv.com) will repackage the series “Comics Come Home,” and show highlights of the program next month on Comedy Central. And it’s all for a good cause. Comics Come Home benefits Gilda’s Club, a support organization for cancer patients named in memory of actress Gilda Radner. Every time you e-mail one of the comedy videos to 0 friends, LOADtv will donate $1 to Gilda’s Club. How’s that for a win-win situation?

Get the Lowdown on the Elections

CHOOSEORLOSE.com Launches On MTV.com Now you have no excuse not to vote. CHOOSEORLOSE.com, MTV.com's political awareness and voter registration campaign, has hit the Net. Young voters in particular can voice their opinions about the 2000 campaign in an online form at CHOOSEORLOSE.com.

Tales from the Trail is a set of weekly reports about the campaign trail. Online Polls will give you an up-to-date picture of voter opinion, and Online Feedback gives you a place to voice your opinions. Project Vote Smart lets you search databases to find out where the candidates stand on particular issues. Their Heads, Your Words, a section on political art, will get you in the mood to get involved. And one more thing – you can register to vote at CHOOSEORLOSE.com. Now you really don’t have any excuses.

Get Hip

If trendiness is important to you, check out the newly launched HipGuide at hipguide.com. This one-stop planning guide for a trendy life, features help for the traveling jet set. Make plane reservations, and siteseeing plans for local and international destinations. Then find out where you can eat, sleep and shop.

Webstakes Brings Customer Back

By Providing Incentive to Respond to Promotional Email Offers Webstakes, (Nasdaq: IWIN) wants everyone to come again. The provider of Internet promotion solutions announced its iDIALOG LUCKeTICKETS technology, which uses incentives to encourage web site visitors to return to sites. The announcement makes sense, given thatiDIALOG Instant Win and iDIALOG KIDSAFE technologies, both introduced in the fall of 1999, are enjoying major success with such clients as Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), CDNOW (Nasdaq: CDNW) and The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company (NYSE: WWY).

Centerseat Snags CyberSlacker

CyberSlacker may have hit the big time. The animated series, which use vector-based Flash animation, has received critical accolades and will soon be featured on Centerseat.com (www.centerseat.com), a digital media and entertainment company site. Created by Jaime Levy and her New York Animation Studio ELECTRONIC HOLLYWOOD, CyberSlacker chronicles the life of a 22-year-old hacker chick who moves to New York City. She lands in the East Village with not much money, a fat cat and plenty of attitude.

Wyndham Guests Will Be Surfing

Check out Wyndham International, Inc. (NYSE:WYN - news), the next time you need to make travel plans. Wayport, Inc., has apparently signed on as an exclusive Internet services provider for hotel guest rooms, meeting rooms and public areas, By mid-year, Wyndham plans to have fast, convenient Internet services -- including wireless connections in meeting rooms and public areas --accessible in nearly 200 properties and 50,000 rooms in the U.S., the Caribbean and Canada. Wyndham will become the first hotel company to offer wireless Internet access across its branded hotels and resorts.

*Days are getting longer again as are our hours at work. When stress gets to be too much, don't take it out on your loved ones or colleagues -- remember: Count to 10, think about what you want to say, what the real issue is, and then discuss openly and calmly.

The Amazon masquerade ball, unofficially know as amazon.prom, drew
more than 2,000 staffers and guests to Seattle's Sheraton Plaza late
last Friday under one important condition. Invitees were asked to
appear in a costume that related to any product Amazon sells. As you
might imagine, this opened Pandora's UPS box to everything from
bookmarks to blenders, computer hardware to a Star Wars' StormTrooper
(who managed to win the dance contest with his partner-- was that
Queen Amidala?). Hip-hop and classic rock filled the air while finger
food filled the mouths of hungry Amazonians. Living up to their name,
if not their new logo, there were even a few shrunken heads by the
end of the evening. Among the cast of characters, local radio Web
Grrl Dana rocked the night away with husband Rob Greenlee, aka Henry the
Eighth, president of the Seattle chapter of the AIP, (Assoc. of
Internet Professionals). No sign of the Bay-man, unless that was Jeff
hovering near the beer and wine bar dressed like a Zulu warrior.

Why watch game shows on TV when you can be a part of the action? The
WSA (Washington Software Alliance) combined the Bellevue Art Museum's
current exhibit, "The Game Show," featuring artist-inspired,
interactive games and puzzles with local interactive entertainment
companies, HerInteractive.com, Humongous Entertainment, Nintendo of
America and Valve Software to create an evening focused on fun and
interaction. WSA program manager Denise Elwood, arranged the event
and commented, "This year the WSA will be holding a number of
networking events at unique locations. We want to create a different
kind of atmosphere for interacting." 'Denise, you've just won 100
game points, or what's inside the box Steve Ballmer is now holding.'

Suburban Issaquah's experts in residence are Adam and Tonya Engst.
Best known for publishing TidBITS, the perennial Mac e-zine (Tonya
also co-authors), Adam scribed the best-selling Internet Startup Kit
and the Visual QuickStart Guide to Eudora 4.2 among others. Down the
road a piece, TidBITS co-editor Jeff Carlson also wrote the VQS on
the Palm Pilot. Adam's newest work, Crossing Platforms: A
Macintosh/Windows Phrasebook, penned with David Pogue, could bring
detente' to both OS camps. Around the house, Adam relates how one
year old birthday-boy, Tristan, was the impetus for making
HomeGrocer.com drive 1600 feet up Tiger Mountain (on a regular basis)
where the Engst residence provides a spectacular view. My trekkie
joke is that when Captain James Kirk said, "Beam me down, Scotty," he
followed with, "Wait a minute. The Engst place? Sheesh, I'll just
walk down!"

Spawning in the Northwest Net Stream... iCopyright.com has gone live,
providing immediate reuse permissions and reprints of stories from
the LA Times and San Jose Mercury News...Microsoft spawned
Expedia.com will launch a print travel magazine, and continues to
surpass Preview Travel (PTVL) and Travelocity.com as the most-visited
travel site on the Web...The Sundance Film Festival was good to Atom
Films which is adding new shorts at an amazing clip to fulfill its
mission of "Instant Entertainment." Looking for a job in Seattle?
Atom's got 'em, so does Brand-X, Net-Nanny and Q-Pass, to name but a
few.

* Coming to a website near you! This week was a wildly different one for me as I began filming interviews for the upcoming CyberSceneTV show. Set to launch the week of January 31st we've got a perspective from Alice O'Rourke (NYNMA) and Bill Rudin (Rudin Management) on the history of Silicon Alley; how Silicon Alley got it's name from Mark Stahlman (New Media Associates); a personality profile of Robert Levitan (Flooz.com); and round out the show with a look at some of the hottest parties of the week.

Upcoming shows will look at other cyber towns, (London, Austin, Boston, Los Angeles) and will be highlighting people and parties from these places too.You can keep on top of it all at www.cyberscenetv.com. Stay tuned for the best show on the bandwaves about the social, cultural and business aspects of work and play in cyber cities around the world.

Cocktails with Courtney -- www.CocktailswithCourtney.com
* Cocktails with Courtney -- London! Yes, we're finally crossing the Atlantic and having our inaugural cocktail party in the town of Big Ben, Queen Elizabeth, Bobbies and Harrods. February 16, 2000.

Thursday, January 27, 2000

Alleyite Sean Lucey left New York for San Francisco, but he still keeps a residence here and maintains at least a yearly soiree. On what was one of the colder nights we've had this year, he hosted a new millenium party in his spacious lofty duplex on the East side on Thursday, January 27. There were a good assortment of regular party attendees like Bernardo Joselevich and Tristan Louis, who was telling us how he's left his post at Boo.com just before the series of lay-offs that began. RedFilter.com's top team has also been out making the rounds, and are expecially proud of their recent "Village Voice" cover story, as they should be. Michael Feldman, who also hosted the party in his upstairs even loftier apartment, complete with climbing ropes explained a bit about some of his new projects and Hollywood connections. His sister, Kyra works at T3 Media. HEAVEN's Wendy Dubit, StickyData's Katie Lukas and Iguana Studios Jason Jercinovic were also there. Even the celebrity face painter Rainbow Heart (see WWWAC Holiday party 1997) was there with his protégé, "Compassion." I met new web designer, but seasoned graphic artist, Chase Rogers (www.mandhari.com) and a whole slew of other friendly faces, who came in from the cold to celebrate cheer with each other.

Wednesday, January 26, 2000

January's cocktail party was the largest reading on the hip scale this week. Set in the trendy Lot 61 and sponsored by Kozmo.com and eCoasters.com we had over 600 rsvps and just as many eager trendy bodies trying to squeeze into the club. It was frigid outside but inside there was a warm fire, plenty of delicious complimentary wine by Gundlach Bunchschu, sumptuous chocolates from eChocolates and music to make you sweat by the talented DJ-duo Tony and Spooner of Netmix.com. We had old and new digerati on the scene, a flock of young handsome bankers and plenty of presidents of new "dot-coms." Check out the pictures on the www.cocktailswithcourtney.com website in a few days, and catch some of the party on the CyberSceneTV.com show.

Tuesday, January 25, 2000

Who said graffiti isn't art? Don't ask the curators and exhibitors at the Magidson Fine Art gallery at 41 East 78th Street. Their newest show is featuring works of three cutting edge New York-based artists with street roots. Hiroya is a rising Japanese-born and trained artist with fashion and graffiti orientations best known for his recent store installations in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood. His works show examples of his vivid new abstract works on canvas.

And then there is Nemo -- who first became known during the graffiti heydey of the early 1980s under his chosen moniker of the time, Arson, and who was featured as himself in the Julian Schnabel-directed film, Basquiat, as well as his upcoming feature. His new comics-styled canvases are what he's highlighting. And Richard Hambleton, who gained notoriety in the early 1980s for a series of shadow street paintings that captured a sense of the city in those turbulent times,
is showing a series of monochromatic new paintings on canvas and linen.

Ever since the WTO Seattle riots this past December, commentary on and protest against the growing prevalence of advertising in our world (see ANE exhibit too) has been starting to sneak into the center ring of people’s minds. These artists indicate a revival of street art as social commentary. They're also already hip to The Cyber Scene but have yet to recognize the social relevance of it.

Michelangelo's David wasn't staring over our back and Da Vinci's Mona Lisa wasn't staring us down, but we could access them virtually at any moment if we wanted, and have them greet us each time we fire up our browser.

The granddaddy of museums has now entered cyberspace. Chad Gallant, VP of Icon-Nicholson explained the detailed beauty and exquisite depth of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's web site during a presentation and launch party on Tuesday, January 25 in the Douglas Dillon boardroom. Designed and developed by Icon-Nicholson, with digital artist Jason Wurtzel at the helm of the design team. An assortment of new media aficionados came to see the site launch, snacked on a cornucopia of hors d'oeuvres and agreed this was a nice change from the Tribeca loft parties.

Visitors are greeted with a new splash page every day of one of the 3,000 high-quality images of artwork online, out of a collection of 2 million, chosen by each art division committee. The museum isn't afraid of massive downloads of the images they won't really be that clear. There's a strong search engine and the site's navigation is all interwoven so that people can explore and learn.

Setting standards for museum Web sites, this site offers customization on the museum and the user side. For instance, each department can update their section online with web-based tools.Each area of art interests (African art, for instance) is linked to African items in the gift shop. There are strong personalization features too. Once you sign up, you can personalize your "Met Gallery" to save your favorite pieces from the collection, your "Met Calendar" to receive notices of events your interested in and visit your "Met Store" where your address gets automatically filled in for ordering. Already there are 2,600 MetNet members. Encouraging users to visit other art sites, there are hundreds of links to other art sites. Having spent $2 million in site development and with 8 full-time people working on the site, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's shop spent some effort to ensure that their Web site was usable but also museum quality.

After the presentation, guests enjoyed nice hors d'oeuvres of roast beef on toasted garlic, salmon on pumpernickel with capers, sushi and stuffed grape leaves and chatted about all they'd seen and the snowy night outside.

Monday, January 24, 2000

I started off my week down at 55 Broad Street teaching my class on "How to Spot Trends in Silicon Alley" on Monday, January 24th. Students who came got an over view of Silicon Alley, how it started, who the key players were and what were the forces that drove the industry forward. We talked about what trends are going on now and anticipated some future ones. If you think a class like this might be good for your company, for new employees or people who have just entered this space, it provides a solid background on where we all came from. This class is helpful for corporations who want their employees to have a sense of the history of the Alley, how it started, who were the players then and how the industry's changed. Please contact me if you would like to find out more about my teaching this class.

The next day I had the honor to sit on a panel with Elliot Fishman, senior VP of Advantage Capital Partners; Todd Kuhlman, CTO of Vault.com and Bill Fisher of The Rouge Market. We were speaking on a "Day in the Life" Internet/New Media panel at the Lubin House on Tuesday, January 25 for Wharton and Syracuse alums. Over the course of the evening we shared our insight on what our days were like, how we got started, the "corporate culture" in our firms and the industry was like, personal milestones and the best advice we could offer. After hearing such insightful comments from my fellow panelists and myself, there was a question and answer period and networking to follow.

Saturday, January 22, 2000

We stood and watched heavy silver duck tape being painfully removed from a girl's body. In the next room, there was a slide show of thoughts centered on fame or money, pearls, oysters and sugar and one woman's passions. The slideshow switched mid-way into graphic pictures of the artist surrounded by some of her favorite things. She was naked and on a bed. This kept a lot of viewers sitting through the whole presentation. You could sit on an actual bed in the room, with pearls, magazines and Ritz crackers strewn about.

The art-exhibits were alive with expression at the ANE Exhibit opening for "Business Art Business 2000" on Saturday, January 22. Tall, beautiful Marni Kotak, a new media veteran, held court with her exhibit "Livesystems.net." In addition to exposing herself literally, she called our attention to just how integrated and prevalent advertising space is in our lives. As people watched her show, she encouraged them to participate in the raffle for advertising on her body. Of course, "the price goes up as the ad space moves down" (the body). Iconocasters Michael Tchong and Beth Weintraub even came out on the cold bristly night to take in the avant-guard scene.

Heidi Raebeck Joins the Sawtooth GroupThe Sawtooth Group, a "way cool" advertising agency, has hired Heidi Raebeck as director of interactive services. Ms. Raebeck will be responsible for building up and running Sawtooth's Internet division. The company has already begun designing and resdesigning web sites for such clients as Tetley Tea, and Johnson & Johnson. Ms. Raebec will be working directly with the COO.

HotSocket, Inc., Appoints Brian McConnell VP of Business DevelopmentHotSocket, Inc., (www.hotsocket.com), the developers of D-Commerce, a data-driven and accountable way of selling on the Web, today announced the appointment of Brian McConnell as vice president of business development. McConnell brings a wealth of direct marketing experience and expertise to HotSocket, Inc., at a time when the Company is in the midst of rapid growth. As vice president of business development at HotSocket, Inc., McConnell will focus on developing strategic partnerships with traditional direct marketers as well as leading Internet companies.

Hartnick Joins i-traffic Kate Hartnick is leaving FEED to join i-traffic as Director of their Strategic Planning Group. She says it's an exciting opportunity in light of i-traffic's recent merger with Agency.com.

OpenTable.com Appoints Danny Meyer to Board of DirectorsOpenTable.com (www.opentable.com), the leading provider of online restaurant reservations and Internet-connected restaurant management tools, today announced the appointment of Danny Meyer, award-winning restaurateur, to its board of directors. Mr. Meyer brings years of experience as one of the country's top entrepreneurs and most innovative restaurant operators to OpenTable.com's industry-leading team of pioneers in the restaurant and technology communities. Mr. Meyer intends to implement a progressive rollout of OpenTable.com's proprietary Electronic Reservation Book (ERB) across his popular New York restaurants. In the coming months, Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park and Tabla will join the hundreds of restaurants across the country offering real-time, online reservations at www.opentable.com.

The Swayne Agency hires Susan Barry

As The Swayne Agency begins its third year, Susan Barry has joined the company from McGraw-Hill, where she was Editorial Director, Business & General Reference. Prior to that, Susan was a senior editor at John Wiley & Sons. She has worked with Business Week, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, Arthur Anderson Consulting, The Gallup Organization, NBC, CNBC, Commerce Net, and Microsoft.

Safire will run usability labs where clients with a website will hire them to see how people use their software.They advise web developers on information architecture where they will advise a client during the construction of their site. Sachs also runs focus groups.

StarCite Names Vincent Campitelli VP of Research & Development and CTOStarCite, Inc., innovators of a global business-to-business E-Commerce meeting marketplace (http://www.starcite.com] announced the hiring of Vincent Campitelli II as the company’s Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Technology Officer. Campitelli brings over 30 years of experience in technology and professional services to a senior management team that already boasts extensive meeting industry and Internet experience.

Michael Winston joins Jupiter Communications

Michael Winston joined Jupiter Communications on January 3 as a Regional Account Manager in New York City. Jupiter Communications provides companies with the strategic intelligence necessary to compete and grow in the online medium.

Anthony Giglio now senior editor at drinks.com

The site launced Monday Jan. 17. At www.Drinks.com , choose from among 25,000 items available, select choices using our exclusive search engines, pay by credit card in secure transaction, and the order will be delivered in as few as two business days. This new Internet marketing company created a business plan that enables it to work responsibly within each state's regulatory environment, paying taxes and buying products from local wholesalers while still bringing great prices and unprecedented availability to consumers.

BITS & BYTES ---------------------------------

Online Bookstore Pioneer Joins ibooks.com

(BUSINESS WIRE) ibooks.com (www.ibooks.com), the expert source for digital online reference books, announced that Barbara Frerichs, the founder of the first online interactive bookstore, ReadUSA.com, will join the company as vice president of strategic relations. Frerichs will be responsible for developing strategic partnerships within the publishing, distribution, and Internet arenas as well as initiating relationships in key vertical markets on behalf of ibooks.com.

VintageGreetings Celebrates Black History
VintageGreetings (www.vintagegreetings.com) announces its collection of free electronic greeting cards celebrating Black History Month. Visitors can send e-cards featuring photographic portraits of historical figures such as Sojourner Truth, Booker T. Washington, and Jackie Robinson. Each e-card contains an inspirational quote. Users can access the Black History Month collection by clicking the Holidays button on the VintageGreetings home page at www.vintagegreetings.com. VintageGreetings' celebration of Black History Month is an example of how the e-card network is leveraging its antique photographic archive as a social, cultural, and educational resource.

i-sites Work for familyfoodzone.com Wins World Wide Web Health Award

Philadelphia Internet professional services pioneer i-site recently captured a Silver Award in the Health Information Resource Center’s (HIRC) First Annual World Wide Web Awards Program. i-site’s award-winning work, created on behalf of the National Diary Council, is familyfoodzone.com (http://www.familyfoodzone.com). The project was cited in the category of Health Promotion/Disease and Injury Prevention Information. The site is maintained by i-site’s Donald Smyth, in collaboration with nutritionist and writer Vicki Bourneauf and the i-site team.

and Endeavor PartnerFurther demonstrating the nexus between the worlds of technology and talent, worldwide digital studio and leading Los Angeles agency Endeavor have forged a strategic partnership to shepherd mutually beneficial business opportunities. Under the arrangement, Endeavor and will partner on specific projects, with each company lending its complementary expertise to create new business opportunities. offers Endeavor guidance in all areas of digital studio services, including business development, financial planning, web development, design and technology, marketing as well as financial, entertainment and technology relationships needed to nurture an early stage company into a formidable e-business. For its part, Endeavor offers expertise in all areas of creative and corporate entertainment while prospecting opportunities for among its clients and industry contacts.

Thinkmap Powers Soundtrak For Century Web Site

Plumb Design announced its part in developing a Web site (http://millennium.sonymusic.com) dedicated to Sony Music's Soundtrack For A Century 26-CD boxed set. The site offers users a unique vehicle for accessing and interrelating many of this century's most important artists, albums and producers through an interface driven by Plumb Design's innovative Thinkmap technology.

Centerseat Signs Emmy-Award Winning Entertainment Journalist Neil RosenCenterseat LLC, the digital media and entertainment company, announced that Emmy-Award winning film critic Neil Rosen has signed an exclusive deal to to be an entertainment news reporter covering movies and the film industry for the company’s broadband entertainment site, Centerseat.com, which will launch first quarter this year.Mr. Rosen, who is regularly seen on New York 1, will provide Centerseat with movie reviews, conduct interviews with movie stars and host a “coming attractions” show. His movie review show will give Centerseat viewers the opportunity to provide feedback on the reviews by choosing either a “Rosen’s Right!” or a “Rosen’s Wrong!” selection that will allow them to express their opinions and have them posted on Centerseat. Viewers will also be invited to send their own video responses, which will be compiled and presented on the site.

ZEFER: new offices and IPO

The NYC office adds to ZEFER's existing presence in Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh and San Francisco. ZEFER Corp. today announced the filing of a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of its Common Stock. The Company will submit an application to have its Common Stock approved for quotation on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol ZEFR.

U.S. Interactive Wins New Client With TAHO Commerce Group

U.S. Interactive, Inc., (Nasdaq: USIT), a leading Internet professional services company,announced that its services were retained by TAHO Commerce Group, LLC, a software developer, systems integrator, and application service provider (ASP) that specializes in Internet infrastructure technologies. TAHO hired U.S. Interactive to work on the company’s Online Retail Brokerage Infrastructure Technology (ORBIT). ORBIT is a next generation online brokerage system from TAHO that’s engineered to meet the needs of independent retail brokerages, banks, and other financial institutions seeking cost-effective, private-label deployment of a transactional online presence

WiseBear.com Raises $4.6 Million In First Round To Launch Web SiteDedicated to Wellness and Personal Growth
WiseBear.com, an e-commerce destination and online community focused on helping people lead a more balanced life, announced today it has raised $4.6 million in venture capital from Liberty Venture Partners, Cardinal Health Partners, P.S. Capital, WT Holdings and WiseBear co-founders Kay Koplovitz and Cris Popenoe.WiseBear.com's mission is to provide the tools to help people enhance their well-being - in mind, body and spirit - so that they can enjoy more balanced and satisfying lives. The Web site, launching in May, will provide content and advice on wellness and personal growth as well as sell books, videos and music, wellness gear and accessories, spa products, educational materials and travel packages. Products will be merchandised in both the online store and throughout the editorial and community sections.

Rudin's new deal

The former Long Distance Building of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company at 32 Avenue of the Americas, to which the Rudin family took title last month, will become the New York Global Connectivity Center. Although extensive updating will be required for the 68-year-old, 28-story landmark tower, the Art Deco lobby mural will be preserved. It depicts the world's continents as allegorical female figures, connected by golden rays passing through the lady North America.

In a definitive move toward globalizing its business,Jupiter Communications, Inc, the worldwide authority on Internet commerce, announced a joint venture agreement with Hikari Tsushin Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hikari Tsushin, Inc., Japan's fastest growing technology and communications service provider. The partnering will assure rapid growth for Jupiter in this important region, given Hikari's renowned innovation and aggressive approach to selling in the Japanese market.

Thursday, January 20, 2000

Patches of four-foot-tall marshmallow, whipped cream mushrooms and cardboard fruit-sliced bushes sat under the Hershey's Kisses trees that lined the entranceway over a groundcover of gumdrops, lollipops, suckers and Smarties. Butlers dressed in all green or purple, complete with top hats, welcomed you as you walked towards the 10-foot-tall red and fuchsia-colored portrait of Wille Wonka. Or was it Kevin O'Connor smirking at us from above, in that playful manner of his?

Doubleclick once again outdid itself and set the standard for a fun, tasteful wild Silicon Alley party this year. The invites for this sweetly whimsical evening arrived complete with a Golden Ticket invitation wrapped inside a thick, rich chocolate, crispy Doublclick Bar. The Roxy nightclub was transformed into Wonka-World on Thursday, January 20, and inside, thousands of skinny, beautiful, sugary-happy, blissfully blitzed on bonbons Silicon Alley kids danced to the best music ever played. Drag queens led the go-go dancing on platforms and tunes from Dead or Alive, Deelite, Abba. And lots of other fantastic disco-beat, gotta shake-my-booty songs grooved from the roller rink. It was all there. Plus you could swing by and snag a licorice rope, suck on a rock candy sucker, arrange sugar dominos or spell your name with gummy letters. If those treats weren't didn't tickle your fancy, you could wander through the 5,000 pounds of candy purchased for the party and strewn about the club. Catrina Gregory was looking fabulous as she entered the fantasy land with Linda Centkowski of Media Metrix. Once again, I saw Sean Price of USLaw and Kathy Reilly (Flooz.com) this week, but this night they were near the bar, which was lined with inflatable Tootsie Rolls.

Everyone who was anyone was wearing candy necklaces. Okay, everyone was wearing candy necklaces. Matthew Cortellesi of Matt TV and TheGlobe.com donned a knit ski cap, and jumped on his pal Scott's shoulders to boogie under the flickering strobe lights.

I made my way around the pulsating dance floor, where the beautiful people writhed in slinky lace tops and vinyl skirts, sucking lollipops and tossing their hands in the air while they flipped their cute pixie hair. Nicole Mansdorf of I-traffic marveled with me at some of it before I made my way back towards the entrance. The tall, gorgeous men sported short messy hair, chunky sweaters, cords and ski jackets. Their equally trend women, dressed in straight-leg jeans and midriff-baring sweaters or in straight slim skirts with colorful sticky shirts and tiny prada (or beaded) bags, tottered in four-inch heels. They tossed their long locks carelessly as strobe lights disoriented the sugar-happy crowed.

Did someone tell Ford about this party? I was about to toss my notepad into the peppermint and lollipop bush when I caught Kevin O'Connor, CEO and Co-founder of Doubleclick, and pounced on him with some questions. "So Kevin! Willie Wonka and Doubleclick. What's the connection?" "Well, Willie Wonka is a place where all your wishes come true, and the Internet is place where all your dreams can come true too," he said. Never was a truer statement made. "…And Doubleclick is a place where all your advertising wishes can come true." Aha! The "Everlasting Gobstopper!"

Models or not, every creature there was stuffing candy into their pockets and shoving mints into their mouths as they left Roxy-Wonka-Wonder-Land. I saw Vicky Shapiro of Concrete Media and friends. Sherry Reisner of NYNMA introduced me to Todd Huffman of The Vertical Sports Show out in LA. Refreshed from such creativity, I bundled myself up and headed back out into the night, thinking of Golden Tickets, chocolate and the Internet.

With no major religious holiday in sight and Milennium over, 1ClickCharge CEO Heidi Goff decided it was time to throw the company office party. Working at 704 Broadway benefits the company with easier access to the stunning penthouse commonly rented out for parties, the one that served recently as the setting for Jerry Seinfeld's wedding and a scene in "Sex & The City." Brian Smiga, Panni Morshedi and SendResume.com's Bonnie Halper were chatting and enjoying the snowy lawn outside the glass-enclosed apartment. Upstairs the heated outdoor pool steamed temptingly -- but not enough to seduce any swimmers. Scott Samios of VP Partner Development and Sue Hinton of Communications Manager relaxed in camaraderie, and everyone commented on the spectacular swing dancing by Ms. Goff.

The gentle breeze from the west was not so gentle and brought a considerable amount of snow with it, but that didn't stop the "nouvelle vague" (new wave of new media/new technology) from being out in vogue. My first stop on Thursday night, January 20, was at Zefer Corporation's New York office opening at 622 Broadway. Harkening back to the early days of 'Net parties, we were redirected to walk around the corner, past the super-bubbles taxi-stand car wash to the back entrance on Crosby Street. Ah yes, the four-story steep vertical climb brought back memories of SonicNet's bashes with basketball courts and six-foot longs.

No six-foot longs here, other than the tall lanky men strolling about. Lavish buffets were set out with full-scale service from traditional Kimono-clad Japanese women serving sushi, to three vats of fresh pasta with sauces (tortellini, penne, rigatoni) to a trio of crepes (chicken & broccoli, Italian sausage and mushroom, bananas foster). Chocolate covered strawberries and tiered dessert stands tempted partiers from opposite ends of the football-field sized loft space (okay, maybe half a football field).

Old movies flickered on the as guests milled back and forth, scanning the room for friends. I ran into a few--Alex Bergmann of Creative Good, Paul Lightfoot of Foodline and Grag Matuskiewicz of Bluestreak.com. Arly Kjellstad of Sony Music New Technology Ventures told me about his upcoming trips to London, and Panni Morshedi of 1ClickCharge invited me to stop by her company party later that evening. Brian Smiga has just left 1ClickCharge to start up Deliverex. Now, after a week's wait (he told me this news at Catherine Winchester's birthday party last week), we can print it!

Philip Canfield of GTCR, in a sharp wool pinstripe suit, explained that he was the private equity firm that backed Bill Seibel as he started Zefer. Canfield now serves as a member of the board. On my way to interviewing Bill about his dynamic young company, I met Gerry Dube and Sean Mullaney of Zefer. My interview with Bill was short and sweet, but I learned how the New York office, their 5th satellite office, has hired 50 employees in four months. Things are happening quickly. We didn't go much further because Zefer is now in its quiet period -- yes, they are going public soon too.

Wednesday, January 19, 2000

The ringing in my ears from the gong was quickly replaced with ringing from the loud bass music playing upstairs at the Pagent restaurant, the site of the first Internet Mixer for Grownups on Wednesday, January 19th. Hosted by the vivacious crew of Amy Fried at Roz Goldfarb & Assoc., Ben Austin of Comet Systems and Nicole Berlyn of sixdegrees.com, this regular casual gathering for new media worker-bees was a-buzz with networking and socializing. Joelle Klein and Hannah Pingree of iVillage told me there were 4,000 chatters posing 6,000 questions to Hilary Clinton during her chat in their Town Hall meeting on January 18th. Kathy Reilly of Flooz.com and Seth Price of USLaw.com were mingling with Bernardo Joselevich of Dutyfreeguide and Piper Kenny of GoWebMama. Jesse Stein and Adam Lupa of Smartcasual.com, a company intent on helping men buy clothes more easily, were mingling with Luke Haseloff of Comet Systems, Nicole Glazer and Gilles Brisson of US Interactive, and Clarisse Perrette and Penny Prior of AOL/Time Warner. Matt Ferguson of @Vantage stopped me on my way out to introduce himself, and before I descended downstairs and back outside, I chatted with Jane Hodges, writer, and Brent Kaiser of Ogilvy & Mather).

Maybe it's the enthusiasm people tend to get when a new year starts, or maybe it's the plethora of well-funded new media companies in New York, but Silicon Alley is starting to give back to the community more frequently. It started with smallish fundraisers for MOUSE (http://www.mouseny.org/) and HEAVEN (http://www.heaven.org), although the funds received weren't so small. And as more companies got funded and went public, corporations began to exercise social responsibility by becoming generous with pre-IPO, stock and cash to charities.

Last year ended with my black-tie benefit for The Fresh Air Fund, and Judith Messina of Crain's New York picked up on this wonderful trend in an article on December 20. On Wednesday night, the Association for Interactive Media presented their "Evening of Charity" at the opulently redone Russian Tea Room. Sponsored by Roska Direct, AIM's Advisory Board and esteemed guests had the opportunity to choose from among five charities: The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, The Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund and Schools Online.

As guests arrived, large goblets of red and white wine were passed around with trays of salmon and caviar on crepes, quail eggs with caviar on toast, and oysters. I chatted with Ben Isaacson, executive director of AIM ,and Jon Roska, CEO of Roska Direct. Both men were thrilled at this evening's prospects and energy of good will. Networking being my prime reason for being there, in addition to hearing Congressman Jerry Nadler speak, I made my way through the extravagantly mirrored and gold-leafed room. Kevin Lee, CEO did-it.com, and Amy Zagin, event marketing manager LinkShare, were among the first two folks I spoke with.

Andy Sernovitz of GasPedal Ventures was entertaining a group of gentlemen nearby as I spoke with Jonathan Vick of BlinnPR, Irwin Hipsman of Vstream and Jim Kirchman of CyberSites. Jim was explaining how his community-generating site is among the friendliest out there. Ken Magill of Direct Marketing News and Amanda Hass of About.com were meeting new people and mingling with Alice Rodd O'Rourke, NYNMA's executive director. Joe DiGeso, general manager of Time Warner Road Runner, and Honey Rodman, VP business services at Time Warner Road Runner, were two interviewees for the inaugural CyberScene TV show that I'll be debuting on January 31st. Scott Kerr of Real Media gave me a contact in their London office, for the upcoming London Cocktails with Courtney. Then, as I made my way back out, I ran into Key Compton of Solbright. After the gong sounded, guests made their way to their tables, and I headed into the crisp outdoor air on my way to the next event.

Saturday, January 15, 2000

Chad Little of myGeek.com is Geeks Give American Friends of the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra is the fundraising branch of the Orchestra for the
United States. Their Associates group seeks to foster a new generation of
donors (24-40 years of age), and will be participating in this year's
Annual Gala for the Orchestra. The Gala is on January 15, 2001, and
tickets for the concert and post-concert black-tie affair range from $185
to $600. This year, the Orchestra brings us together in peace to
celebrate the harmony of an all-Beethoven program at one of New York's
most fashionable and sought-after social events. For more information,
please contact Seth D. Palmer, AFIPO Associates Gala Vice Chair, and
fellow digerati, on cerebral@cortx.com.

Toni LoPresti is now the bright and shiny New Business Development Manager at Omnient. Omnient is a comprehensive e-Business development firm providing fixed-price fixed-time strategy consulting and industry-leading Internet solutions to traditional operating companies and startup businesses.

Raoul Didishiem has taken an Executive Producer position at eFit.com, the online health and fitness network.

Stephen McCoy, formally Vice President at 24/7 Media, joins LivePerson as Vice President of Client Services. LivePerson, Inc., the leading provider of real-time customer service solutions for Web sites, enables companies to directly interact with their customers at critical moments, humanizing the online experience and building long term successes.

(Wall Street Journal) -- Investors led by Amazon.com Inc. are pumping $100 million of venture capital into Kozmo.com Inc., a fast-growing company that delivers movies, snacks and other items purchased over the Internet, generally within an hour. The latest financing comes just seven months after Kozmo began expanding outside its original New York City market. Kozmo (www.kozmo.com) also offers its service in Seattle, San Francisco, Boston and Washington, D.C. The company plans to enter 21 more markets by year end.

YackSM and WorldGate Communications (Nasdaq; WGAT) announced a new content distribution agreement that will bring the web’s most comprehensive guide to live net events to the WorldGateSM Service. WorldGate, the leading provider of high performance, low-cost Internet access through TV uses standard cable set top converters to deliver Internet, e-mail and interactive advertising to cable subscribers without the need of a personal computer. Yack’s (www.yack.com) comprehensive listings will connect WorldGate subscribers to the rapidly expanding world of live Internet events.

Centerseat LLC (www.centerseat.com), the digital media and entertainment company, announced an agreement with Microsoft Corp.(Nasdaq "MSFT") to provide broadband programming in the Microsoft Windows Media Format. Through the agreement, Centerseat will become an entertainment content provider on WindowsMedia.com, where highlights from its thousands of hours of original broadband programming will be featured through links to its broadband entertainment megasite which launches first quarter. Additionally, Centerseat.com will feature the Windows Media Player.

Agency.com Launches Interactive TV Global Practice Area

AGENCY.COM (Nasdaq:ACOM) announced the launch of its Interactive TV and Broadband Global Practice Area, following the acquisition of Visionik, the world's most experienced Interactive TV developer. AGENCY.COM is now the only company in the world to have developed Interactive TV and Broadband applications for satellite, terrestrial and cable systems.

Razorfish, Inc. (NASDAQ:RAZF) announced that its Board of Directors approved a 2 for 1 stock split of the Company's outstanding shares of common stock. The stock split will be effected as a 100% common stock dividend, to be distributed on January 27, 2000 to holders of record of its common stock on January 20, 2000. After the stock split, Razorfish will have approximately 90.2 million shares of common stock outstanding.

Steven A. Bruno, co-founder of New York based iNYC, announced the launch of the company's FDSL (Free DSL) Program, the first advertising subsidized DSL service to provide fast, "always on" internet access over regular phone lines in the customer's home. Orders for iNYC's FDSL are already being taken over the company's website at www.inyc.com.

Jupiter Communications, Inc. announced that it is expanding its coverage of the exploding online health industry, and launching a major new event later this month, The Jupiter Online Health Forum.

Totally Hip announced that its update for LiveStage Professional was released. This new update to the multiple award-winning QuickTimeä Authoring Environment includes new advanced QuickTime VR and Text Track features, and also enhanced Macromedia Flash™ support. This update is available free to existing customers and further positions Totally Hip as the leading tool developer for interactive QuickTime broadband media.

In an attempt to help facilitate better networking for new media professionals and "Scenesters," here are some points that will be added during the weeks. They will be archived at:

* Contrary to that popular song and just because it's cold out, gentlemen, doesn't mean you can keep your hat on inside. It is considered impolite to keep baseball caps and other headgear on once you've stepped indoors.

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